When the World Burns
by Rehaniah
Summary: “I don’t appreciate you watching me Mr Malfoy.” Hermione/Lucius
1. Chapter 1

**When the World Burns**

* * *

She knew he was watching her again. She could _feel_ his eyes on her. Hermione's teeth clenched together with loathing and anger.

Not wanting him to see that he'd affected her, but not wanting to stay in the same place either, she rose from the table she was currently seated at and headed for the buffet counter across the room, winding her way through the various groups of people milling about. Naturally everyone who was anyone in the wizarding world attended the Annual Ministry Gala but Hermione had never imagined there would be such a huge crowd.

Surveying the assortment of luxurious foods only served to make her gut even more twisted. Clearly trying to eat anything was out of the question-

"Hermione." The dark shadow appeared beside her with a silence that should have been humanly impossible. The arrogant drawl having the same affect as an unwanted caress upon her skin.

She didn't even attempt to stifle the wince at his use of her given name, knowing that he only used it to aggravate her. They were not friends. They were not even acquaintances. Hermione despised him. He had absolutely no right to even _know_ her first name let alone use it. Not that he ever would in front of other people. He had only started doing this recently…

Continuing to glare at the champagne glasses lining the head of the table she decided to come right out and confront him - this had gone on long enough,

"I don't appreciate you watching me Mr Malfoy." The harsh words ended with a hiss of revulsion.

"Watching you?" His voice betrayed no emotion, only the cold superiority that was as much a part of his speech as the words he used,

"All I was doing was looking at the youngest but most _up-and-coming _member of the Ministry of Magic."

Her eyes narrowed even as she refused to look at him.

"You're wrong Mr Malfoy. I have seen you watching me many a time before tonight. And it is not the innocent curiosity of someone looking upon a new employee. I know-"

Abruptly she stopped. She was about to say that she knew the way a man looked at a woman. But she didn't, not really. She knew how Ron looked at her; with a fondness derived partly out of friendship, partly out of familiarity and partly out of an accepted fate chosen by everyone else around them. She knew how the occasional student at school had looked at her on the rare occasions that she had made an effort to enhance her looks through the use of make-up and charms; a look of vague surprise and appreciation. Yet she had never been subjected to the look that the senior Malfoy had begun to scrutinise her with over the past months. A look of burning heat so intense that she had felt the flames licking at her own skin. Was that how a man looked at a woman? She assumed it was but did not quite have the courage to say so.

An elegant exhale of breath from the foreboding presence next to her indicated Malfoy's slight amusement at her expense,

"Despite your firmly held beliefs _Hermione_, you do not know _everything_." The sounds coming from his mouth had evolved into a dark purr now. Her body shivered with disgust at hearing her name violated in such a way. Out of the corner of her eye she glimpsed the blonde take a glance around, no doubt checking that no one was looking their way. Apparently satisfied he suddenly leaned in so that she felt his warm breath against her ear and clamped an iron hand around her arm, preventing her automatic attempt to flinch away.

"If however you desire to be _educated_ further. Know that I would be only too happy to oblige." She felt the moist caress of his tongue over the shell of her ear before she whipped her head around to finally face the man beside her. She felt outrage and anger flowing out of every pore of her body. And even though a small part of her mind knew that more-than-likely he had only spoken such things in order to rile her, her emotions were too far gone to listen to reason,

"_How dare you- how - how dare you._" She was so furious that her lungs seemed unable to contain the oxygen she was giving them and her mouth floundered to speak the words her brain was screaming. The pitiless eyes above her merely narrowed with amusement.

"You disgust me Malfoy. And the day I ever allow you to lay one finger on me will be the day the world burns."

A dark chuckle erupted out of cruel lips as her captor tightened his hold on her. Refusing to allow her any leeway so as to draw back, he lowered his head so that it was almost level with her own,

"You have my word, I will make it burn for you." His words, a vow if ever she heard one, the unforgivingness of his stare along with the brief tightening of his hold on her made Hermione feel true fear for the first time since the war had ended.

She fell limply against the table as he suddenly released her. She could not even begin to form the words to make a comeback, her throat constricted from the terrified pounding of her heart.

With only a slight raising of one side of his lips in an otherwise expressionless face, Malfoy retreated from her. Disappearing into the crowd in a whisper of black robes.

Hermione braced her shaking arms against the table as she tried desperately to control her breathing. She knew she should be fuming with anger at Malfoy but at the moment all she could feel was fear, and all she could see were eyes the colour of stone.

"Mione!" She let out a sigh of utter relief at hearing the familiar call. Turning round she was met with the sight of two figures, one lanky with a shock of short red hair, the other slightly smaller with an infamous scar seated just below a shaggy dark brown mane.

"Ron! Harry!" Hermione swallowed at the sound of her high-pitched rasp.

"Hey, sorry we're late! Harry got molested by a bunch of groupies and I had to rescue him." Ron's boyish grin stretched across his whole face and she forced herself to laugh, knowing that it's what he wanted, though the sound that came out was weak and brittle. She placed her hand on Ron's arm, needing the assurance that his presence and warmth gave.

"Hermione, is everything alright?" She turned to see Harry's worried eyes examining her face. She wondered if she looked as ashen and shaky as she felt but the automatic reaction came from her lips without her even realising it,

"Sure Harry, I'm fine." Her voice sounded slightly more normal at least.

"Hm - are you sure? Harry's right you do look a bit … pale." Now she had Ron peering at her from his towering height. She hesitated. Should she tell them? She found that she desperately wanted to but also knew with certainty what would happen if she did. Ron would charge over to Malfoy, who was more than likely conversing with the Minister of Magic or some other important person, and knock him out. Or at least try too. Yet she had seen the elder Malfoy's powers and highly doubted that impulsive Ron would be able to stand against his superior skills. And the thought of either Ron or Harry getting hurt because of her made her insides twist with renewed agony. Not to mention the fact that, if Malfoy whispered in the right ears, they could both lose their jobs with the flick of a wand. No, she would not tell them. At least she would not tell them yet. She would think about it in calmer circumstances and then decide whether or not to tell them. Or at least whether or not to tell Harry, since she really didn't think Ron would be able to cope with the details of her encounter.

"Actually, I don't really feel all that well. I'm sorry." She smiled apologetically at the two boys.

"Hey don't worry about it! You know I only come to these things because of you - and for the free food of course! We can go home."

"Oh no Ron, you can stay if you want to. I can go home alone-" Her heart stuttered at the thought of going anywhere alone and was just about to ask Ron if he wouldn't mind escorting her to one of the floo points when he interrupted-

"Naw, it's fine. C'mon, I'll take ya home." He gallantly held out his arm for her to take and gratefully she did.,

"Thank you." She smiled a genuine smile and then turned to Harry.

"Harry, are you going to be alright?"

"Course Mione. You go home and get some rest." The eyes behind the glasses twinkled with kindness.

"See ya mate." Ron said with a slap on Harry's back as they headed towards the main doors of the incredibly large room. The place was still packed with all kinds of officials and Ministry workers. Ron started talking animatedly about a new case that he and Harry had just got to which Hermione tried to pay attention to.

Yet the all-too-familiar sensation began to creep up on her again, only this time it was laced with real fear. Her eye caught a flash of blonde and a high, tinkling laugh and involuntarily her head turned to look.

He stood with his arm around his wife's waist, politely laughing with her at something the Minister had obviously just said. In a flash his eyes had flickered over the top of Narcissa's head to lock upon her. Hermione's breath caught and she instantly wrenched her head back to it's former position of facing forwards, but not before witnessing the hidden message held within the mocking stare,

"I'll be seeing you soon, _Hermione_."

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**A/N: OK, for now, this is a one-shot. I do have a vague idea of making this into a longer story but the idea's still forming so I'll just have to wait and see if anything comes of it. Thanks for reading & I hope you enjoyed it :)**


	2. Chapter 2

It had been nearly two months since the night at the Ministry Gala and, to Hermione's utter relief, there had been no sign of the elder Malfoy.

She had made the decision to tell Harry what had happened the following day. Yet when it came down to her actually explaining she, much to her chagrin, had found herself playing down what had really occurred. As she had sat opposite her best friend of twelve years in the brightly lit offices of The Ministry, surrounded by other Aurors in training, she had become embarrassed that a slime ball like Malfoy had managed to spook her. She had survived a war for crying out loud! Had stood up against one of the darkest wizards in history when she was still in High School, how could she have let just a touch and a few words intimidate her! So she had simply said that Malfoy had criticised her work towards House Elf Rights and that it had bothered her. Harry was far from convinced at first, insisting that she had looked quite upset over just a few snide remarks, but with her reassurance that nothing else had happened and that she'd just had enough of 'Ministry gatherings' the topic had soon moved onto safer ground.

Now Hermione sat in her little office tapping her quill against her desk while she read over another letter of 'I completely understand your concern but unfortunately am not able to give my allegiance to your Proposed Bill of House Elf Rights at this time. Very sorry etc.' Hermione sighed and threw the piece of parchment back on her desk. She couldn't stand it when people didn't tell her the truth. Why didn't they just say; 'I don't want too support your bill because I'm too lazy not to have house elves do my bidding and am too selfish to even pay them to do so.' How these people infuriated her!

She had been trying for almost a year now to get better working conditions for house elves but recently her accomplishments had gradually grinded to a halt. Her war-hero status only carried so much weight and because house elves had been serving the wizarding community for hundreds of years without needing payment, clothes, or any of the things their masters took for granted, people were unwilling (to say the least) that they should have to pay for something that they've had for free for so long.

Not only that but her boss tried to hinder her every effort in this regard, letting her proposals pile up on his desk, giving her vague answers to her requests of progress and disappearing for hours on end when she needed to speak with him. Not that this behaviour surprised Hermione much, she knew for a fact that Mr Burgles had at least four house elves slaving away for him at his family home.

She was jerked out of her reverie by said Mr Burgles flinging the door of her office open without even knocking,

"Miss Granger, I have some simply wonderful news!" His nasally voice had risen high with excitement and his beady eyes flashed behind small glasses,

"A new patron has come forward in support of your House Elf Rights Proposal-" Just as Hermione's mouth opened in a silent O of shock, she caught a glimpse of movement behind the portly form of her superior.

Time seemed to grind to a halt as she watched the dark robed figure glide into her office. Cold eyes swept over the enclosed space before fixing upon her own. Vaguely she heard Mr Burgles talking in the background but she couldn't distinguish the words through the pounding of the blood in her ears…

"-and so I present to you your new benefactor and associate Mr Malfoy." Mr Burgles finished with a flourish of his hand towards the towering man beside him.

Thin lips stretched into a mockery of a smile as Malfoy bowed his head slightly in her direction,

"Miss Granger. It is a pleasure to see you again-"

"No." The word came out firm if slightly higher pitched than normal. One blond eyebrow rose in question. Mr Burgles chuckled slightly, embarrassed,

"No? Whatever do you mean Hermione?" She could hear the hint of threat within Burgles voice but her eyes were now locked within grey ones,

"No. I'll not work with him." She shook her head to emphasize the point. Burgles spluttered and stammered while he looked between the two of them,

"I-I don't know what to say. I cannot apologise enough Mr Malfoy. I'm sure that _Miss Granger_ here knows just what an honour it is to have you grace us with your presence let alone offer your aid and help to this little section of the ministry. And I'm certain that whatever differences of opinion you may have experienced in the past, she will be more than happy to put it behind her for not only the benefit of herself but also of this _department_." Burgles voice had gradually become deeper and more threatening. In a separate part of her mind Hermione listed all the reasons why she should take heed of what the little man glaring daggers at her was saying; Malfoy was a very influential person and his patronage would do wonders not only for her cause but for the whole department. It would certainly get her noticed and would mean Burgles would get the praise and recognition that he so desperately craved and would effectively stop him from being less than useless with regard to her own line of work.

Hermione was aware of these things but was helpless to take heed of them. For even though her mind was practically screaming at her, she _couldn't_ look away from Malfoy's eyes. She just couldn't.

There was something _wrong_ with his eyes. Something undeniable. Something that held her trapped with morbid curiosity and heightening dread.

They were … _hollow_.

That was the only way she could describe them. There was just _nothing there_. Not even a tiny flicker of emotion even though she would swear that he found this situation amusing.

This scared Hermione. She had looked into his eyes before when she was younger but they had never been like that. They had been like his son's, full of cruelty and viciousness, but not empty. Ridiculous as it seemed, his eyes looked out of place on his face. They belonged in a gaunt, lifeless face. Not surrounded by sleek, blonde hair and porcelain skin that were so obviously used to the finer things of life.

How could she ever have thought that Malfoy had looked at her with heat in his gaze? There was no heat there - there was _nothing_ there. Not a trace of warmth, not a trace of anything. It was like staring at a wall of ice. In the same distant part of her mind that was analytically registering everything that was going on, Hermione remembered the old saying 'The eyes are the window to the soul.' If Malfoys soul was as cold and dead as his eyes ... Her mind shuddered.

Yet still she couldn't tear her eyes away, even though she felt the oppressive silence of the room, Burgles having obviously no clue as to what to say since neither of them had spoken for several minutes and weren't even looking at him.

Suddenly the contact was broken; Malfoy looked away and Hermione's body visibly sagged. She vaguely heard him speaking with her superior but her mind was too focused on other things to pay attention to what they were discussing.

_What the hell happened to him to make his eyes like that?_ Hermione desperately ran through all the things she knew about the elder Malfoy. He had been Voldermort's loyal follower until the Department of Mysteries debacle after which he had been sent to Azkaban. He stayed there for a year before being released, at which point the had turned on his long-time master and given information to the Order in exchange for immunity. As far as she knew he had pretty much gone back to his previous life after that. Albeit with a rather 'changed' view towards muggle-borns and halfbloods. In Hermione's opinion he still hated them just as much as he used to, but just didn't go around voicing it like he had done before. That was all she knew.

_So… Azkaban did that to him? _But he had only been there for a year. Less than a year in fact, and others hadn't been like him. She had seen other followers of Voldermort who had endured the same time, if not more, than him and their eyes hadn't been like that. Admittedly most of their eyes had been half-crazed with fear, hatred, anger … but never dead … unless of course they had actually _been_ dead.

She was shocked out of her thoughts when she saw Malfoy and Mr Burgles turn towards the door,

"… and I assure you we'll get on fine Boris. No need to worry."

"Well like I said, anything you need Mr Malfoy, anything at all, you just let me know. And of course if there are any problems-" Burgles shot a most scathing look towards Hermione, "- I'll be round like a snitch."

"Thank you Boris." Malfoy closed the door on the little man who was now in the hallway, effectively bringing Hermione back to life and enclosing them both in her office. Alone.

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**A/N: So there we are. Incidentally this story has veered away from what I originally intended (what can I say - my mind is a very fickle thing) so that's why there might be some indiscrepancies between this & the previous chapter though I have tried to address them. **

**Anyho hope you enjoyed** **:)**


	3. Chapter 3

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Gryffindor bravery came to the fore despite her extremely unsettling experience just a few minutes ago. _Just don't look into his eyes. Whatever you do, don't look at his eyes._

"Now, now Hermione. That's not a very nice way to talk to your new partner."

"_And don't use my given name_," She growled.

A faux look of mild confusion crossed his face,

"Why ever not?"

Hermione's eyes narrowed into two slits of barely suppressed rage,

"Because it is customarily established that friends or acquaintances use someone's given name. We are _neither_."

He gracefully placed a hand over where his heart was,

"Why you wound me … _Hermione_."

"Get the hell out of my office now!" She shouted, her apprehension and ire increasing with every moment that she was forced to spend within his presence.

Suddenly he began to move around the desk to her side. She backed up quickly, shoving her desk chair out the way so as to keep a safe distance from him. _Wait a minute, I have a wand!_ Grabbing it from the holster at her waist she pointed it straight at Malfoy's chest,

"Don't come any closer."

He stopped and made a show of looking at her wand before letting his eyes travel along the length of her arm and down over the rest of her body.

"Stop that!" He raised his eyes to her face,

"Stop what?"

She stammered for a moment, trying to form the words that described exactly what he was doing. Ogling her? Leering at her? Molesting her with his eyes? None of those seemed appropriate and she didn't want to give him ammunition to make fun of her. So she settled on,

"You know what!"

"I assure you I do not." His calm, arrogant demeanour, coupled with his persistent, feigned confusion was really starting to get to Hermione and she nursed the anger building inside her. Afterall, anger was better than fear,

"Stop staring at me!" She cringed as she realised how childish it sounded once it was out of her mouth. He merely chuckled, running his eyes over her again.

"You have a wife." Once more his eyes flicked back to her face,

"I know." No inflection, no emotion. Neither from his eyes or out of his mouth.

"She's beautiful." Hermione didn't quite know why she said it. Except that it was true. Narcissa Malfoy _was_ beautiful; she was stunning. Why look elsewhere when you have perfection right next to you? It didn't make sense.

Malfoy didn't respond but continued watching Hermione.

The silence stretched out and with a shock she realised that she was once again gazing into his eyes. Forcefully she shook herself, breaking the contact and mentally berating herself for her lack of control. _What is it about his eyes that keeps drawing me in?! _

Looking back toward him, but not into his eyes, she tightened the grip on her wand,

"I believe I told you to get out."

Malfoy simply sighed and turned his head toward her desk, taking note of the paper work spread over it. He laid his snake headed cane down before reaching out and picking up the letter that she had been reading before she'd been rudely interrupted by her incompetent superior and _him_.

"Ah, the Du'anes. Very impressive family. They tried to get me to marry their daughter once upon a time, but the girl was frightfully dull. You know I could introduce you to them. We are still, what you might call, friends."

"They tried to get you to marry their daughter?" Hermione's insatiable curiosity raised it's head despite the fact that she desperately wanted him out of her sight.

"Hmm. A rather uncomfortable experience that I would prefer not to go through again."

"They tried to marry their daughter off to a Death Eater?" Her tone was incredulous. Malfoy perched on the edge of her desk, making himself comfortable before replying,

"I was not fully initiated when they attempted to persuade my father that an alliance would be advantageous. The Du'anes have never supported either side, preferring to bury their heads in the sand rather than confront real problems. Once they found out how strongly we were involved with Voldermort though, they decided to respectfully withdraw their offer whilst still maintaining our associations. Unfortunately, Ann-Marie disagreed with her family's decision and proclaimed herself in love with me. She was a rather dim-witted thing and it took an awful lot of effort to persuade that I did not feel the same way."

"Well, I'm sure you handled the situation in the same kind-hearted and sympathetic way that you handle everything else," she said sarcastically. A quirk of his lips told her that he found her comment amusing - _it wasn't meant to amuse him, it was meant to insult him!_

Malfoy continued reading through the papers on her desk, not even glancing at the wand still pointing at him. _Enough of this_, thought Hermione,

"Mr Malfoy, let me say this very clearly. I will not work with you. I do not care what kind of influence and success you can bring to my cause and I do not care if my so-called boss becomes even more of a complete arsehole to me. I hate you and everything that you stand for, everything that you've ever stood for. And I don't care if you say that you've changed or not, I will never accept you as a valid, let alone valuable, member of wizarding society. Now I demand that you get out of my office or else I swear to you that I will call Harry and Ron, who in case you didn't know are both Aurors now, and have them physically remove you from my presence. So GET OUT!" She took a deep breath at the end of her rant, fury now pumping fiercely through her veins.

Malfoy slowly put the papers back down on the wooden surface beneath him, his eyes averted away from her. He raised himself off the desk and turned as if to walk away from her. Faster than she could comprehend he had whipped round again and grabbed hold of her wrist, his hand so tight that it felt as if her bones were being crushed. Hermione cried out at the intense pain and her wand clattered to the floor. Malfoy roughly twisted her arm behind her back before shoving her backwards so that she was now pinned between the bookcase in the corner of her office and his body.

Fearfully she watched as he reached inside his robe and pulled out a black wand. Hermione's eyes skittered from him to her desk, where his cane still lay peacefully. Malfoy chuckled at her expression,

"I have learnt that it is advantageous to carry more than one. Your friend Potter taught me that actually." He softly ran the tip of his wand over her cheek, then down to the trembling hollow of her throat,

"Speaking of Potter, I believe you referred to both him and his mindless sidekick as Aurors now? Strange you should say that, since I was under the impression that they were only in training to be such." He gently tapped the skin of her throat with his wand,

"Did you lie to me Hermione?"

His voice held no hint of anger, only a cold curiosity, but still she couldn't answer him. Fear had constricted her throat so that she could barely breathe.

"Come now little one. All I want is the truth." He again ran his wand up towards her face, gently brushing an unruly curl out of her eye,

"Did you lie to me?"

"Yes." She forced the word out, realising with dread that she was once again staring into irises of grey emptiness.

"Hm, I thought so. And I've no doubt that they are enjoying such a worthwhile vocation. Afterall, isn't that what every true Gryffindor yearns to do? Rashly place his life in harm's way so as to save some ungrateful individual from a terrible fate they, more-often-than-not, fully deserve? Then to get praise and glory for such foolishness too. Yes, I can see Messrs. Potter and Weasley thoroughly delighting in such an opportunity."

Malfoy leaned his head down so that Hermione could feel the silkiness of his hair brush against the side of her face as he continued speaking directly into her ear,

"Wouldn't it be a shame if some selfish person were to take that away from them? Turn their dreams into nothing but ash? You see Hermione, I happen to be very well acquainted with the head of the Auror department and with just a few words, you're dearly-beloved partners in crime would find themselves out on the streets. Now wouldn't that be a shame?"

"What the hell do you want from me?" Hermione gritted out. Threatening her was one thing, threatening her friends was another entirely.

Malfoy removed his lips from her ear and raised his head so as to look down upon her face again,

"You know what I want."

"I'm not about to let you rape me-"

She was cut off by Malfoy's bark of laughter,

"_Rape_ you? Dear girl, I have never raped anyone in my life and I do not intend to start now. It is a most distasteful act, one which I have never had any desire to participate in."

Hermione could have asked him what he meant by his previous words and actions at the Gala, but had a very real feeling that she didn't want to know the answer. Instead she asked,

"So what do you want then?"

"Why, isn't it obvious? I want to work with you to give our faithful House elves the improved lives that they so obviously deserve."

Hermione took a deep breath, desperately trying to quell the fear inside her,

"Don't make me laugh-" In truth, laughing was the very last thing she felt like doing in this situation, "-You've never cared one whit about House Elf rights, why the hell would you start now?"

Again his gaze lingered over her,

"Let's just say someone has managed to convince me to alter my former perceptions. And I could be very beneficial to your cause Hermione." He breathed the last part down at her so that she could feel his warm breath ghosting over her face. Had she been able to, she would have flinched away with revulsion. Instead she put as much venom as she could muster into her voice,

"You disgust me."

"And you intrigue me." Hermione's heart lurched with fear. _Merlin, that was the last thing she ever wanted to hear coming from him. She didn't want to intrigue him. She didn't want to be anywhere near him_.

His expression hadn't changed one bit, his countenance was as cold and shuttered as ever, giving no clue as to his reasons behind what he had just announced. Hermione couldn't get over how unnerving she found this particular aspect of him. Normally she could read people fairly well and she had always been surrounded by individuals who had readily displayed their emotions. But not him. No hint of feeling came from any part of him. Not his eyes, his voice, his actions. It was like he was a walking statue. In fact, that was what he appeared to be right now since he continued to hold her arm in a painfully tight hold behind her back, his wand frozen in place over her throat.

She took in a gulp of air,

"I want you to let me go now." Thankfully there didn't seem to be a tremble in her voice. His eyes washed over her again before he carefully released her arm and took a small step back. She brought her arm in front of her and rubbed her now sore wrist. There were marks from where he had gripped it so tightly. She was examining it so intently that she didn't notice what Malfoy was doing until his much larger hand suddenly came into view and took hold of her injured one,

"Hey-" She tried to jerk her hand out of his grasp but he didn't give an inch,

"Stop that."

"What are you doing?" But before she could truly panic he had pointed his wand over the bruised skin and whispered a healing spell. Almost immediately the pain vanished and the skin was as good as new. Hermione's mind seethed; not only had he threatened her but now he'd destroyed the evidence. She wouldn't have anything to show Harry and Ron…

Now that she didn't have the terror of a wand at her throat, her mind began to truly comprehend what Malfoy had said. Even if she did have something to show she couldn't go to Harry and Ron. Dear Lord, they _loved_ being Aurors. She had never witnessed either of them so happy than when they were accepted into Auror training. She couldn't take that away from them, she just couldn't. And she had no doubt that Malfoy would live up to his threat, he still held an inordinate amount of influence both in and outside the Ministry-

"My dear."

She was wrenched out of her downward spiral of despair when she looked up to see Malfoy holding out her wand towards her. Quickly she grabbed it of him. The thought flittered through her mind that she should simply hex him into unconsciousness and then tell everyone what had happened. But she had no proof! Burgles sure as hell wouldn't back up her story and if she did take that course of action she would more-than-likely not only get herself into trouble but Harry and Ron as well since they would undoubtedly get involved.

She closed her eyes and took in deep breath, trying desperately not to give in to the anguish that she sensed welling up inside her. She had never felt so helpless!

She let out a startled gasp when a cool hand pressed itself to her cheek and wiped away a tear that she had not even felt escaping,

"Do not cry little one." She glanced up into the eyes now hovering very near her own. Even now, no emotion showed in their grey depths,

"Why are you doing this to me?" The question was out before she could restrain it, albeit choked and pitiful sounding.

"You are beautiful." No emotion, only words.

They weren't even true. Hermione was no fool. She was not beautiful, could never be counted as so, even on a good day. She was on the pretty side of ordinary and no more. This whole saga was no more than some sort of sick, sadistic game of his!

She wrenched herself away from this mockery of a human being's grasp and strode round the desk to the other side of her office, the furthest point away from where he stood.

She ran her hands over he face, removing any other unidentified tears, and took one long, deep breath to compose herself. She _would not_ let this creep get the better of her. She would find a way out of this mess on her own. Who was she if not the smartest witch of her generation?

She turned to face the man of her nightmares, her mind back on track and her courage back in force,

"Well then, since you're so interested in helping House Elves, I guess we have work to do."


End file.
